insurgency
noun
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Insurgencies fall into the category of "irregular warfare", since an insurgency normally lacks the organization of a revolution, even though it has the same aims. Revolutions often begin within a country's armed forces, whereas insurgencies often arise in remote areas, where they gain strength slowly by winning the confidence of rural populations. An insurgency may be based on ethnic or religious identity, or its roots may be basically political or economic. Since insurgencies are rarely strong enough to face a national army head-on, insurgents (often called guerrillas) tend to use such tactics as bombing, kidnapping, hostage taking, and hijacking.
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Examples of insurgency in a Sentence
Fred Weir, The Christian Science Monitor, 11 Apr. 2024
The insurgency in Amhara could escalate and pose a real threat to Abiy’s control over Addis Ababa.
—Alex De Waal, Foreign Affairs, 8 Apr. 2024
Regardless of the public’s opinion, the facts are crystal-clear—AI and high-tech have come far, and there’s no way of stopping the global insurgency.
—Hilary Tetenabaum, USA TODAY, 5 Apr. 2024
The seventh and perhaps best known, 85-year-old Alberto Fujimori — credited by many here with defeating the Shining Path guerrilla insurgency — was released from prison last year after Peru’s highest court upheld a 2017 pardon on humanitarian grounds.
—Simeon Tegel, Washington Post, 1 Apr. 2024
The agency is in charge of camps housing thousands of Nigerians displaced by the insurgency.
—Reuters, CNN, 7 Mar. 2024
Dismantled does not mean destroyed; its remnants are still capable of waging a lethal insurgency, evidenced by this week’s heavy fighting in the north.
—Hazem Balousha, Washington Post, 27 Mar. 2024
Nor does Israel want to be responsible for the 2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza, let alone have to cope with an insurgency that would almost certainly result from any reoccupation of Gaza.
—Dennis Ross, Foreign Affairs, 13 Mar. 2024
An indefinite Israeli military occupation of Gaza would generate an insurgency, bleed Israel of money and personnel and eventually prove politically and diplomatically unsustainable.
—Bret Stephens, The Mercury News, 23 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'insurgency.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Insurgency.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insurgency. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
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insurgency
noun
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